'That's it, you're out': disorderly conduct in the House of Representatives

On Wednesday 11 December 2013, 10 Labor MPs were ordered to withdraw from the House of Representatives for one hour ('sin binned') by the Speaker, the Hon Bronwyn Bishop. Seven of these were during Question Time, two during a motion to suspend standing orders which occurred at the end of this period and one during a ministerial statement later in the evening. Each 'sin binning' occurred during questions and debate about the automotive industry.

As many as this may seem, it is not the most number of ejections in a single day nor during Question Time. The greatest number of members ‘sin binned’ on a single day (11) occurred on 2 November 2005. Speaker David Hawker ordered out eight Labor members during Question Time and Deputy Speaker Ian Causley ordered out three Labor members during a Matter of Public Importance (MPI) debate. The greatest number of ‘sin binnings’ from Question Time occurred on 21 March 2012 when nine members were ‘sin binned’.

A recent study by the Parliamentary Library, 'That's it, you're out': disorderly conduct in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 2013, found that of the 1,093 members who served during this period, 300 (27.4%) were disciplined for disorderly behaviour, such as interjecting, refusing to withdraw a remark, disregarding the authority of the Chair, by being named, named and suspended or sin binned.

Which Minister?: Answering questions during Question Time

During Question Time on 5 December 2013, the member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, asked the Treasurer, the Hon. Joe Hockey, a question. Halfway through his response to the question, Mr Hockey invited the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Warren Truss to finish the answer. The Speaker ruled that this was in order and by doing so upheld precedence.

Legislation and the financial initiative: what happened to the Opposition amendments to the Carbon Tax Repeal Bills?

The Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and other related Bills passed the House of Representatives on 21 November 2013 with no amendments. While this is not an unusual occurrence, what is notable is that Opposition amendments to the package of bills were not debated during the consideration-in-detail stage.

Question Time: Questions directed to non-government members

In Question Time on 28 May 2013 the Leader of the House, the Hon. Anthony Albanese, moved a Suspension of Standing and Sessional Orders (SSSO) to allow the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Tony Abbott, to address the House. The SSSO was moved to provide the Leader of the Opposition the opportunity to answer a question during Question Time – a rare and highly unusual occurrence.

Tweeting from the Chamber

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

On 12 March 2013, the Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne asked Speaker Anna Burke to make a ruling on a tweet by Member for Bendigo, Steve Gibbons during question time, asking for the Member to withdraw.

Steve Gibbons‏@SteveGibbonsMP

Looks like @tonyabbottmhr has contracted out his nasty side to interjector's in the public gallery. A new low even for the Libs!

Mr Gibbons had tweeted this after two people had been ejected from the public gallery in succession, for interjecting during Question Time.